Tuesday, May 31, 2016

7 Hemp Kicks That Are Better Than Yeezy’s

By Missy Amato
Source: greenrushdaily.com

7 Hemp Kicks That Are Better Than Yeezy's

Hemp Kicks Guide

If you want to have cool ass sneakers without giving money to Kanye, you have some serious options. Don’t you worry now! These hemp kicks won’t break the bank, but they’ll still make your feet look F-ing awesome. Also, you’ll get to walk around with pride knowing that you’re shoes are organic.

1. Raw Nike Air Force Ones

7 Hemp Kicks That Are Better Than Yeezy's
These high tops have a black base with a bright green cannabis print that will show everyone where your heart, well feet, actually belongs. The kicks also have a strapped in the Raw lighter that’s refillable and can help you pack down a bowl full of herbally goodness.

2. The Adidas Stan Smith’s “Happy”

Adidas Releases New Hemp Shoe Designed To Hide Your StashThese low top Stan Smiths are both made to help the environment, but also made so you can hide your precious stash. The shoe’s logos are embellished with marijuana-friendly jokes including, “May Cause Relaxation” and “Dosage: 420MG Take At Least Once A Day.” These sneakers kick it up a notch with a special compartment underneath the tongue that’s a perfect size for storing your stash.

3. The Adidas Tubular

7 Hemp Kicks That Are Better Than Yeezy's
Adidas is kicking it with these amazing hemp kicks yo! The Tubular is being dubbed the “Hemp Yeezy’s,” due to its apparent structural influence took directly from Kanye’s design. The shoe is more like a boot than a sneaker. However, it remains lightweight and versatile because of the hemp material.

4. The Rawganique Geneva Sneakers

The Rawgnanique Geneva sneaker is a beautiful handmade creation that will make you the most hipster version of yourself. The classy looking high tops are made out of organic hemp by shoe masters in Europe, (we’re not trying to impress you, but if the shoe fits.)



5. The Vans’ Bali SF

Vans "Bali SF" hemp shoes
The SF is a laid back surfer sneaker that’s perfect for those lazy California days filled with boarding and baking. This sneaker is a slip on shoe made with hemp textiles for a smooth and organic feel. These Vans represent the relaxed and carefree feeling of Cali and summer by mixing lightweight materials and a fun design.

6. The Adidas Seeley

Bringing it back to Adidas with these original design canvassed hemp kicks, the Seeley is a cliche’ Adidas with its generic low top tennis shoe form that is embellished with Rasta colors on the sole. It’s the old school look and modern hemp texture that make these shoes something new and cool. You’re just wearing your grandpa’s old Adidas, son.

7. The Nike SB Hemp “Dunk”

If ball is life, then these shoes are a must. The upper part of the Nike Dunk including the tongue and body are made of all natural hemp, with a leather Swoosh stitched into the side. Even though the outside of the shoe is an earthy brown, the tongue and the heel have little sparks of green and orange. Light up the court and then light up a joint in these bad boys.
You now have seven different ways to drop Kanye, but still wear a great f**king sneaker.

Hemp seeds being distributed to West Virginia growers

By Associated Press
Source: washingtontimes.com

VIENNA, W.Va. (AP) - Hemp seeds are being distributed to approved growers in West Virginia for a research project on the crop.
State officials say it took two years to create rules governing the project. Applicants must pass background checks before being licensed to participate.
The planting of hemp seeds moved forward this year after Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed a bill that would have prevented individuals from growing industrial hemp for research projects.
J. Morgan Leach is executive director of the West Virginia Hemp Farmers Cooperative. He told the News and Sentinel in Parkersburg (http://bit.ly/1TNHszZ) that his father, Jim Leach, and Dave Hawkins are among the members of the cooperative who have been approved by the state to plant hemp seeds in the project.
The state Department of Agriculture recently delivered seeds to Jim Leach, who will plant them on his property in Vienna along the Ohio River. He is interested in the manufacturing prospects for hemp and has a 30- by 90-foot plot for growing three varieties of hemp.
Hawkins, owner of Mother Earth Foods in Parkersburg, will plant seeds he receives from the state on a half-acre of his property in Wood County.
Industrial hemp can be used as food, fiber and supplements, said Chris Ferro, chief of staff for state Agriculture Commissioner Walt Helmick. It can also be used for clothing and in building.
Morgan Leach said hemp can be used to make paper, fabrics, rope, cosmetics and plastics.
“Hemp canvas covered the wagons that settled America, and was named the next billion dollar crop by Popular Science Magazine in 1938 before it was officially outlawed,” he said.
The Agriculture Department will test the hemp to ensure the levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary intoxicant in marijuana) in the crop are below the federally mandated 0.3 percent.
The hemp looks like marijuana but doesn’t have the same THC component, Ferro said. The state will work with law enforcement officials to let them know where the legally grown hemp is located, he said.
Ferro and Morgan Leach have visited with Department of Agriculture officials in Kentucky where hemp growing is “taking off,” Leach said.
This is believed to be the first time hemp has been planted legally in West Virginia since World War II.
“This is a pretty cool idea,” said Hawkins, saying hemp production is an interesting project for West Virginia as a commodity crop to help the state’s economy.
Morgan Leach said veterans and former coal miners could become involved in hemp production.
Although the hemp focus is now on the research side, the Department of Agriculture wants to assist in future market and product development and the plant being used for remediation of the land, Ferro said.
Ferro said the department hopes the project develops into hemp processing plants opening in West Virginia.

Part 1: A History of Cannabis and Prohibition

By 
Source: marijuanatimes.org

The Journey around the Globe

part-1-history-of-cannabis-and-prohibition-journey-around-globe

When it comes to history, there are a lot of things that get left out of textbooks for various reasons – and even through multiple World History and American History classes, I can’t recall a single bit of information about cannabis prior to the Reefer Madness Era. Perhaps there was a quick mention of things made of hemp, but no real background on the plant, how its uses were discovered or how it made it made its way pretty much all over the world.
It was for this reason that I decided to write this article – and a few that will follow it. (I’m sure you guessed that what you saw “Part 1” at the top, right?) Cannabis is an amazing plant that we’re learning more and more about every year – but perhaps we could better understand this plant if we looked past the last century of back and forth prohibition and started with the thousands of years when it was just another plant.
A quick note, I’ve linked you to many sources throughout this article – however, some of the information I will be providing you with here came from a book recommended to me specifically for this piece. It was an excellent read and I would like to recommend it to you: Smoke Signals, by Martin A. Lee.
The Oldest Record of Cannabis Use Dates Back 10,000 Years
The use of hemp and marijuana dates back to the Neolithic period, which makes cannabis one of the first agricultural crops to ever be cultivated and harvested. The people of this time managed to find uses for every part of the cannabis plant from the stems and stalks that provided fiber for cloth, rope, cords and more; the roots, leaves and flowers which were used both in medicine and spiritual rituals; and finally the seeds, which they ate as a way to provide essential fatty acids and proteins.
A cord used in a piece of pottery found in an ancient village located near what is modern Taiwan is the oldest piece of hemp found to date. Being one of the first agricultural crops, it is quite possible that the use of hemp helped to shape civilization as we know it today.
Richard Hamilton in the 2009 Scientific American article on sustainable agricultureModern humans emerged some 250,000 years ago, yet agriculture is a fairly recent invention, only about 10,000 years old … Agriculture is not natural; it is a human invention. It is also the basis of modern civilization.”
The origins of the plant are speculated to be the foothills of the Himalayas, and it started its migration around the world with a group of people known as Scythians. A passage from Herodotus’ Histories from 440 BC mentions Scythians “howling with pleasure” with a hemp vapor trail.
This was when the plant split off in two different directions – and hemp found its way headed toward Europe where it was used as a fiber crop for a multitude of early industrial materials and the psychoactive twin moved towards India, the Middle East and Africa where it flourished as a medicinal herb and was used for its psychoactive purposes in many spiritual rituals.
The Emergence of Cannabis in Asian Culture
It was in 2,737 BC that marijuana was first recorded for its particular medicinal uses inPen Ts’ao Ching, which is the pharmacopeia of Emperor Shen Nung. The emperor is considered to be the father of traditional Chinese medicine and he recommended the use of marijuana, or “ma” as it was referred to, for over a hundred different ailments including female weakness, gout, rheumatism, malaria, constipation and even absent-mindedness.
“Ma” was considered by Shen Nung to be one of the “Supreme Elixirs of Immortality”, which according to him, if taken over a long period of time could allow one to communicate with spirits and one would find their body becomes lighter. However, he also said that when consumed in excess it could “make people see demons”.
Over in India, cannabis consumption found its way into Hindu worship and Ayurvedic medical practices. Ancient Vedic texts read that the psychoactive cannabis plant was a gift from their God Shiva and that where the “nectar of immortality” landed on the earth, ganja grew.  
There were three common forms that one might find for cannabis in India back in these days, the first is called “bhang”, which is a liquid drink blended from the leaves and stems of uncultivated plants. Its potency is actually comparable to the marijuana that is available in the present day United States.
The second was called “ganja” (now you know where that term came from!), which is actually more potent than bhang and made from the tops of cultivated plants – the buds that we are used to consuming today. The third form and most potent way that marijuana was prepared back then was called “charas” and it is very similar to hashish and made from scraping the resin off of the leaves of cultivated plants.
Traveling From Asia to the Middle East
Brought to the Middle East between 2,000 and 1,400 BC, likely by the nomadic Scythians, cannabis quickly found its way into both Muslim and Egyptian cultures just as it found its way into the lives of those in Asia.
In Egypt, the use of marijuana as a medicinal plant has been depicted as far back as 2,000 BC – the first time being in the Kemet, as a way to treat sore eyes and cataracts. Surprisingly, originally found on the mummy of Rameses II, cannabis pollen was found to be on all known royal mummies.
In the Middle East, cannabis was most often used as an intoxicant, the main reason for this being that alcohol was not allowed to be consumed by those who followed Mohammed – however cannabis was accepted and often used as a substitute. The medicinal use of the plant was first recorded in this region in 700 BC in the Vendidad, which is believed to be written by Zoroaster.
When the Scythians left the Middle East, they once again brought the cannabis plant with them, this time finding its way to Russia and Ukraine. From the Middle East the plant then found its way into the rest of African territory, mostly in the form of seeds, by being traded between countries.
From the Middle East on to Africa
Cannabis arrived in Africa around Ethiopian times in the 14th century, and once planted and being carefully cultivated, they soon found the plant thriving. It did not take long for cannabis to become one of the most important crops in the region. It was not long before the plant was being integrated into their culture, which started off with African tribesmen chewing cannabis leaves.
However, they soon learned the art of smoking the herb and that changed the course of African culture in a number of ways. People learned skills such as making pipes and the consumption of smoked cannabis quickly found itself as a large part of both ritualistic gatherings and for recreational purposes during social gatherings.
Actually, there is an tribe whose entire religion is based on cannabis and they are called Bashilenge. They call themselves Bena-Riamba, which translates to “the sons of hemp”. The ancient culture saw cannabis as a God and saw the pipes used for smoking as a symbol of peace (the first “peace pipes”!) and they believed the plant held magical powers and used it to ward off evil spirits.
Though it is less spoken of, in ancient African cultures cannabis was used still for medicinal purposes – mostly to treat common conditions such as dysentery, diarrhea, rheumatism and malaria. It was also applied as a salve for snakebites and it was also used to facilitate childbirth and as a treatment for asthma.
From the Middle East on to Europe
When the Scythians first left the Himalayan foothills with cannabis in hand, they went two directions – towards the West to Europe and further East into Asia. While the plants that found themselves in Asia flourished with psychoactive THC and were used, in most cases, for medicinal and spiritual purposes, the cannabis that made its way to the cooler northern European climate ended up becoming what we now know as industrial hemp.
Over the years, hemp was cultivated extensively for the use of its fiber to make everything from ropes and clothes to eventually ships and more. Looking back to colonial Europe, hemp was such an important crop that in 1533, King Henry VIII commanded that all English farmers grow hemp or risk paying a hefty fine; the same kind of law was reenacted only thirty years later by the first Queen Elizabeth.
Though medicinal purposes were not their focus in the beginning, the THC potent marijuana plants eventually found their way into Europe. It is believed that psychoactive cannabis was first brought to France in the form of hashish by Dr. Jacques-Joseph Moreau de Tours when returning with Napoleon in 1799. Dr. Moreau had intentions of administering the plant to mental patients to study how they reacted.
When given the hashish, patients appeared to calm down, insomniacs were able to fall asleep and even the moods of the most depressed patients appeared to lift. While these results were inconsistent, Moreau believed that the herb was the key to understanding mental illness – and even believed it could help them gain insight into the minds they were trying to understand.
“To understand the ravings of a madman, one must have raved himself, but without having lost the awareness of one’s madness,” Dr. Moreau wrote in Hashish and Mental Illness.
His piece was published in 1845 and suggested that mental illness was caused by a chemical alteration of the nervous system, rather than physical damage to the brain. He believed that large doses of hashish could induce a state of psychosis that, in a way, mirrored that of an actual mental disease.
Eventually, Dr. Moreau started to give the hashish to creatives, poets, painters, architects, writers, sculptors and more who were interested in the mind-altering effects of the green paste made of pistachio, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, orange peel, butter, clove and of course, hashish. The group was informally dubbed Le Club de Haschischins, or The Hashish Eaters Club, and the paste they ate was called dawamesc in Arabic, which translates to “medicine of immortality”.
Around the same time as all of that was happening, Dr. William B. O’Shaughnessy, an Irish scientist and physician, studied Indian hemp for its medicinal purposes. Over a number of years, he studied cannabis uses and its impact on conditions such as rabies, tetanus, epilepsy, rheumatism and other difficult to treat conditions.
By the 1840s, O’Shaughnessy had returned to England and, with the help of Peter Squire, a London pharmacist, was able to develop and refine an alcohol-based tincture called “Squire’s Extract” which was soon prescribed throughout Europe and the United States for a number of conditions including nausea, delirium, epilepsy and painful spasms.  
How Cannabis Found Its Way Across the Atlantic
The Portuguese were among the first countries to enslave African people and bring them overseas by ships outfitted with hemp sails, ropes and nets. It is widely accepted that cannabis was not native to the “New World” and that it arrived on ships with the slaves. In the 1500s, Brazil (a Portuguese colony) saw cannabis for the first time.
At first, cannabis was grown in sugar plantations throughout northeast Brazil between rows of sugar cane and it was allowed to continue only because the African slaves appeared to work and tolerate the heat better when they smoked the herb. It is believed that the word “marijuana” likely comes from the Portuguese word “mariguango”, which means intoxicant.
Eventually the slaves came into contact with the South American Indians with whom they shared their psychoactive plant. The natives were familiar with many plants that they used for religious and spiritual journeys as well as for therapeutic purposes, so they quickly adopted the cannabis plant as a part of their culture.
Not long after that did smoking the herb become something that people of all types partook in including fishermen, dockworkers and more. Through this, it made its way into the northern region of South America, including Mexico. As the use of marijuana became more popular overall, the number of medicinal purposes also became more notable throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Medicinally, South Americans made tea by boiling the leaves of the marijuana plant and this tea was used for things such as rheumatism, colic, “female troubles”, sleeping disorders and many other common complaints. It was also packed onto the gums in painful areas to relieve toothaches and leaves soaked in alcohol were wrapped around swollen joints, which was said to help arthritis.
Cannabis Introduction in the United States of America
The earliest introduction of the cannabis plant in the United States was actually the moment the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, seeing as their ships were geared up with many hemp-made products. In 1611, the first hemp seeds were planted in Jamestown and eight years later, the Virginia assembly passed a law that required every household in the colony to grow the plant since it had so many different uses from fabric to paper to ropes and more.
Showing just how important hemp was to the early Americans, there are many towns that were named after the crop such as Hempstead, Hempfield and Hemphill, among other variations. Everyone from the founding fathers to pretty much every other citizen of the colonies were growing hemp – and for good reason, as they all knew that something was going to happen between them and Great Britain, it was just a matter of time.
One of the first acts of defiance against Great Britain was the American’s refusal to send raw hemp fiber back on the ships. Instead, they grew their own hemp and already had a steady supply before the Boston Tea Party happened. The crop was so vital to both countries that it was a true act of rebellion against the Monarchy and the country.
It wasn’t until much later that the psychoactive marijuana plants found their way to the United States. Most of it found its way to us via Mexicans seeking refuge from the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1911. Unfortunately, Americans had not seen this side of the cannabis plant and the way it was introduced brought on a fear that we’re still trying to shake off over a century later.
“Many early prejudices against marijuana were thinly veiled racist fears of its smokers, often promulgated by reactionary newspapers,” Warf wrote in his report. “Mexicans were frequently blamed for smoking marijuana, property crimes, seducing children and engaging in murderous sprees.”
It was this perception of marijuana that lead us into the era of prohibition and the beginning of Reefer Madness. It was only four years later, in 1915, that cannabis was outlawed for the first time in the state of Utah, but by 1929, the plant was illegal in 29 states in total. Unfortunately, these laws never made the distinction between cannabis sativa (marijuana) and cannabis sativa L. (industrial hemp) so they effectively outlawed both plants in one shot.
Unfortunately, things only progressed for the worse from here until many years later – but we will be getting into that more in depth in the next couple of articles. There is so much that we just don’t know about cannabis, from its multitude of uses both as a fiber and as a medicine – but looking into the history of the cannabis plant throughout the world, you can see that many of the conditions we currently treat with medical marijuana were being treated with it for centuries prior to prohibition.


In the grand scheme of things, prohibition has been a very small part of the cannabis plant’s journey. Laws governing the plant have only existed within the last couple hundred years or so – but before modern medicines were available, people were turning to holistic, botanical medicines and in ancient text and depictions around the world the cannabis plant has always been mentioned as a beneficial herb. People only strayed away from cannabis when modern, western medicine started to take over and fears of the psychoactive plant started to surface.

Entrepreneur makes hemp-based fuel in Costa Rica

By ELIZABETH LANG
Source: ticotimes.net


Transforming hemp into the surfboard beneath your feet or the plane that takes you skyward: That’s the mission of the Canadian company Hempearth, which has made Costa Rica a key player in its operations. Hemp is the non-psychoactive variety of the Cannabis sativa plant, and is often used for industrial reasons because of its strength and versatility. Hempearth’s founder, Derek Kesek, a Canadian internet marketer, musician, chef and former organic restaurant owner, is working to create of the world’s first hemp airplane, its biofuel and a series of hemp surfboards.

While his company is headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Kesek has also been working out of La GuĂ¡cima, Alajuela, where the company has been producing hemp biofuel. He anticipates that within a month, Hempearth’s surfboards will be released in Costa Rica as well.

The Tico Times spoke with Kesek about his innovative project. Excerpts follow.

Can you tell me more about the hemp airplane?
About three years ago I started a company solely based on hemp. I contacted several plane manufacturing companies and asked them if this idea was possible. I sent them some hemp, did some testing and then I got a contract signed by one of the companies. The rest was history. Then I started getting help from some newspapers and so on. We’ve been on Kickstarter, but we’ll probably have to do it again. I was recently in Costa Rica for about eight months, producing the hemp biofuel for the plane. … I put my heart and soul into this project, just one day at a time.

Why did you choose to use hemp?
Because it’s eco, it’s green, it’s sustainable and we all want a better future. It’s lighter, it’s stronger and it’s becoming legalized all over the world.

What is the process to produce the biofuel here in Costa Rica?
We had some hemp seed oil shipped in from Canada. I had a chemist make the fuel and he has his own processing plant located just outside of San JosĂ©, so he produces the fuel for us. Once the hemp plane is ready, we’ll fuel it with this particular hemp fuel.

Hempearth’s airplane plans to use biofuel made out of hemp for a more sustainable design.
 
Via hempearth.net

Have you tried out the surfboards? When are you releasing them?
They’re coming out soon. I just found the shaper. Probably within the next month you’ll see some hemp surfboards surfacing from the company. I’ve met some pro surfers in Costa Rica who are going to ride the boards, including Marcela GarcĂ­a and Valeria Soto.

Why did you choose to distribute them in Costa Rica?
It’s a big industry there. I learned how to surf when I was there, so I love it. Hemp can also grow very well in Costa Rica. They’re about to legalize that kind of stuff. It’s a great industry; it can replace coffee and sugar cane.

Basically, by building these boards, producing biofuel in Costa Rica made from hemp and producing hemp surfboards there, we just want to get a head start on a really big industry that’s coming. It’s going to benefit the country and it will create jobs.

To support Hempearth, donate money on KICKSTARTER or visit the company’s Facebook page.
Contact Elizabeth Lang at elang@ticotimes.net



Don’t Touch my Beer! The Relationship Between Hops and Hemp

By Kathy Garton
Source: marijuanatimes.org

relationship-between-hemp-and-hops

With all of the government involvement in keeping Cannabaceae (plants in the hemp family) out of the hands of U.S. citizens, you would think that Humulus lupulus L., more commonly known as Hops, would be included in the legalities of the Cannabis ban.
Hops is the closest relative to hemp and the two can be cross-graphed very well. However, unlike hemp, hops can cause an altered state and is a very old form of natural medicine. Today, hops is most commonly used for its calming effect on the nervous system, being prescribed for nervous tension, anxiety, irritability and spasms, and for its excellent and potent sedative effects. Hops is used to induce better sleeping patterns, and hops extract is being used as an ingredient in many sedative medicines, and also as an ingredient in cough syrups.
Hemp does not contain the same high-profile medicinal values as hops or marijuana. Hemp only contains about 4% CBD and lacks many of the medicinal terpenes and flavonoids that are found in marijuana. Hemp also has a very low percentage of THC. In comparison, hops contain dimethylvinyl carbinol, used to treat anxiety, restlessness, and insomnia.
Hops (Humulus lupulus) is uncontrolled in the United States. This means all parts of the plant and its extracts are legal to cultivate, buy, possess, and distribute (sell, trade or give) without a license or prescription. If sold as a supplement, sales must conform to U.S. supplement laws. If sold for consumption as a food or drug, sales are regulated by the FDA.
The only conclusion that seems apparent is that hops, a main ingredient in beer, is not a subject to be investigated. Wouldn’t it be great if hemp and marijuana received the same merit?
SOURCES:

UNL gets permit to grow hemp

Associated Press
Source: wowt.com



LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Researchers in Nebraska are one step closer to starting research on using hemp as a field crop.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's agronomy and horticulture department has received a permit that will allow it to research hemp. But they're still waiting for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to approve the importation of seeds from Canada-based Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Cooperative.
HĂ©ctor L. Santiago, assistant dean of the Agronomy Department's Agricultural Research Division, says that it'll likely take at least three weeks to get the seeds after the DEA signs off on the paperwork.
Professor Ismail Dweikat hopes to get plants in the ground this year. He will likely grow the seeds in a greenhouse if they don't arrive before June 15th.

'Harvesting Liberty' Shines a Light on the Massive Potential for Legal Hemp

Federal law still bans the cultivation of hemp even though demand has never been higher and farmers have never been high.

  • May 27, 2016


      • By Ethan Jacobs
      • Source: inverse.com
      • Here’s a riddle for you: you can eat it, you can wear it, but it’s illegal to grow it in the United States. What is it?
        Hemp.
        And yet, the Federation of American Scientists, in a report to Congress last year, estimated the U.S. demand for hemp to be about $580 million annually. The United States is a leading consumer of hemp and the only industrialized country that still bans growing it.
        Activist Mike Lewis is working to reverse that. His work is featured in a new short film called Harvesting Liberty that’s backed by high-end outdoor apparel company Patagonia, and which sees its release just as a legalization proposal — the”Industrial Hemp Farming Act” — awaits action in Congress. As the founder of theGrowing Warriors, a non-profit that teaches veterans how to farm, Wilson has been granted federal permission to grow hemp (he found a loophole; an amendment to the Farm Bill) but he won’t stop there.
        Harvesting Liberty shows the benefits that hemp farming holds for food, fuel, fiber, and families in a struggling community in rural Kentucky. Lewis and his team have made strides in the short time they’ve been fighting for the legalization of hemp farming, including the symbolic gesture of flying an American flag made from hemp at the U.S. Capitol last year. On July 4, a petition will be delivered to Congress to legalize the cultivation of hemp in the United States.
        Inverse spoke with Lewis about his investment in the hemp industry, the crucial difference between hemp and marijuana, his conflicted feelings about military, and the importance of small-scale farming in America’s historical fabric.
        You started Growing Warriors before the hemp became part of it, right?
        Yes. I was interested in the security of it. Why are our soldiers not self-sufficient? Why are they asking for a handout? That was what spawned it.
        How did you start learning about hemp and its potential?
        Well I didn’t at first. At first I got involved with lobbying, for Senate Bill 50 just to support Kentucky agriculture commissioner James Comer. That was kind of it until I met Rebecca Burgess from Fibershed. I started seeing some of the artisanal stuff and I started reading about textile production, just piecing together that you can’t have food security without land security. So if we don’t take care of the land that feeds us, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing.
        When you have all this diversity, not just in the plant, the amount of things you can use this for and make from it is kind of dumbfounding. I saw it as a path to cleaning up our land. Maybe changing a little bit of peoples’ minds about how we consume things and we consume cheap shit all the time!
        Were people skeptical because they were associating it with weed?
        It still happens a lot. We’re surrounded by a couple churches that still think we’re up to something else. It’s part of the misinformation that comes from the other side, trying to hold us back
        How much of your mission is reversing the misconception?
        I think right now that’s my whole mission. That’s the mission of House Bill 525. At least some people will say, ‘wait a minute!’ For the longest time the state police and the DEA still say we’re going to hide our marijuana crops in [our hemp crops]. I can’t believe these guys are in charge of government agencies and they don’t understand basic biology!
        Could you tell me more about the science behind that?
        When they’re growing for THC they’re growing females. They want flowers. They don’t want seeds in there because two things are going to happen. One, our plants are going to pollinate that and it’s going to be full of seeds and it’s going to diminish the desire of the crop. Then you also have plants that are cross-pollinating with the THC plants and our plants have no THC so they actually lower the THC of plants around it.
        So hemp actually counteracts marijuana growth?
        Yeah. If you get hemp in your THC you’ve got a big problem! You can go from 24 percent THC, full-female clone plant, to being within a quarter mile of me that’s going to turn into 10 percent ditch weed.
        And it’s also a more environmentally sound crop because it doesn’t require irrigation or use pesticides, correct?
        Yes and no. The way we grow it sustainably and organically we’re not using pesticides and irrigation, but if you threw this into a corn belt rotation of soy you’re going to have to do something. It is a lot more environmentally friendly, it grows a lot faster, you get a larger yield per acre. Four acres of hemp creates an equivalent of an acre of forest and grows in 100 days versus 100 years. There is a tremendous amount of potential.

        ”If marijuana ever was legalized, it wouldn’t be me growing it, it would be some dude in a greenhouse.”

        Do you see the increasingly relaxed attitudes about marijuana having any effect on your mission?
        I’m not a cannabis, THC farmer, but I have a hard time looking at that knowing what I know about food policy and food processing regulations to know that if marijuana ever was legalized nationwide, it wouldn’t be me growing it, it would be some dude in a greenhouse with hydroponic clones. That’s awful for the environment, too. What I’ve also seen it do is create a lot of tax revenue and we’ve got plenty of tax revenue where everybody’s impoverished, it’s not doing something to help anybody get ahead. We have to find creative ways to empower people and give them a hand up and I don’t really see how that’s happening in the THC side of things. Don’t get me wrong, I have some friends making a ton of money off of this. But you know, they’re not hiring a lot of people. You’ve got a thousand square-foot facility with four employees.
        Where does the misconception about hemp and marijuana come from?
        Propaganda from the ‘40s! It started in the ‘40s and ‘50s with the Hearst family and the Rockefeller family.
        Can you estimate how many jobs it could create?
        I don’t know how plausible it is, and a lot of times when you look at how they calculate jobs ‘oh we just made five jobs!’ No you just stole five jobs. So I’d like to look at it in the context of my community. This is what I’ll always say. I live in a rural community. There’s a town a mile from my farm, it’s got 226 people. We have an unemployment rate of over 25 percent. I think over half of our population is below the poverty line. Having five acres of industrial hemp on our farm would create four to five jobs in our town this year. So that’s the best answer I can give. We’re talking about 5-7 percent of people.
        Could the United States export its hemp?
        Absolutely! Europe has its bases covered. Europe has excess seed every year, they don’t have the acreage. So this could be an export crop. American farmers are pretty damn good at what we do. So I think if we get our hands on it and we get the opportunity to get it out there absolutely are we going to be exporting not only our technology but also our raw goods and ultimately our seeds.
        Before you deliver the petition this summer, how many signatures are you hoping to get?
        As many as I can man, millions. I don’t know how many there are right now. Tomorrow morning we’re driving up to Monticello and we’re going to fly the flag over Monticello with Willie Nelson.
        How do you reconcile your pride in America with your frustration that the government still bans a crop with so much potential for veterans?
        For me there’s a distinct difference between the land that we farm and live on and the people that I live with and the government that dictates and runs us. I love this country, I love this land, and I’ll do everything I can for it, but I don’t always like what goes on in the government side. Ironically this country was built on hemp, in colonial Jamestown if you didn’t grow hemp you got fined. We’ve just gone too far, we don’t have enough respect for the land and each other and I hope that’s what this movie says.
        Are you optimistic at this point? How are you feeling?
        I’m always pretty optimistic. Just look at what happened in a year and a half. About this time in the spring of 2014 we were in federal court suing the right to grow this crop and then on veteran’s day in 2015, less than a year and a half later, they opened the doors of the Capitol and let us in so we could fly our hemp flag. It’s happening pretty quickly.
        What are your concerns?
        My concern is how we push it forward because how we do that dictates how this crop gets treated and if we push it forward as strictly another commodity crop then nothing’s happened. My job is to make sure we’re not focusing on the large-scale commodity side, we’re focusing on the smaller farmers. Now farmers are leasing their lands out to corn and soybean growers.
        This is a fight for quality over quantity, then.
        Absolutely. If you think about our earliest artifacts that you can find, they’re tools, things we used everyday because when you made things, you made them with care, because you were going to give them to your kids whether it was a shovel or a bowl. Now we make everything to be thrown away and then we scratch our heads like, ‘Oh my god why are the ice caps falling in the water? Where are all the polar bears? Oh we bought a bunch of cheap shit and kept buying it and then throwing it away.’
        Photos via Vimeo/Patagonia

Thursday, May 26, 2016

9 Ways to Use Hemp Oil In Body Care (And Why You’d Want To)

By Maria Rodale
Source: huffingtonpost.com

Uses for Hemp Oil

by guest blogger Lisa Bronnerwriter of the blog Going Green with a Bronner Mom
There are a lot of superlative claims about hemp oil: most unsaturated oil, best essential fatty acids (EFA) ratio and combination, highest amino acid variety, only plant source of vitamin D. Can one oil be all that? In short, yes.
Before we go further, let me address that unspoken question, “Will hemp oil make me high?” No, it won’t. Hemp oil is pressed from the seed of the hemp plant, and this seed does not contain THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the psychoactive component of marijuana. However, because of this concern, many hemp oil suppliers provide transparent certifications to assure buyers of the lack of THC content in their products. Test Pledge is one such resource, wherein “producers and processors of hemp oil and hemp nut must commission THC tests on each and every lot of hemp nut and oil, performed by a properly accredited laboratory according to the official Health Canada protocol.”
In their assessment of hemp cosmetics on workplace drug testing, Petra Pless, DEnv, and Gero Leson, D Env, state, “In case of the highly unlikely full-body application of pure hemp oil with a 10 ppm THC content on partially compromised skin THC uptake could conceivably be raised to 11 µg/day. Even this higher rate is only a fraction of the 450 µg/day of oral THC intake, found not to result in a positive screening test for marijuana.”
Don’t judge hemp because it may have a kooky cousin. That’s hardly fair. Who doesn’t have an offbeat family member or two?
Why Hemp
Hemp oil contains unsurpassed essential fatty acids (EFAs). As we are increasingly learning, there are good fats and there are bad fats. What makes a good fat good has much to do with these EFAs, specifically omega-3 and omega-6, which are present in hemp oil in the perfect ratio of 1:3. Plus, hemp oil contains the anti-inflammatory gamma linoleic acid (GLA) as well as omega-9. Its fatty acid profile is better than fish oil’s, better than flaxseed oil’s—it is the best. Among many benefits, these EFAs provide for more elastic skin and shiny, stronger hair.
Hemp oil contains a power-packed punch of additional nutrients, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, copper, vitamin A, vitamin B1 (thiamin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B5, vitamin B9 (folate), and vitamin D (of which it is the only plant source), along with a useful dose of the antioxidant vitamin E (tocopherols) as well as all 10 amino acids for protein building. Add to that list chlorophyll (that’s why it’s green), phytosterols, phospholipids, magnesium, sulfur, potassium, phosphorus, and a bit of iron and zinc.
Hemp oil is extremely non-comodogenic. In other words, it doesn’t clog pores. And because its lipids mirror the lipids that our skin produces naturally, it works in sync with our body to soothe and cleanse. Healthy skin produces linoleic acid. If, for whatever reason, the skin can’t produce linoleic acid, it alternatively produces oleic acid, a thick and sticky pore blocker. Hemp oil contains the good linoleic acid.
Hemp oil is also a natural humectant, which means it draws moisture into the skin. Instead of sitting on top of the skin the way less-effective oils do, it’s able to penetrate the skin, moisturizing between cells and strengthening the cell matrix. It can get to hair roots, as well, strengthening the scalp and reducing dry flaking or dandruff. It evens out skin tone and reduces blotchiness.
How to Use It
Hemp oil is inexpensive—especially when you think of all the products it replaces: acne treatments, makeup to cover problem areas, moisturizers, and makeup removers, for instance. Here are just a few ways you can use this effective oil in your daily skin and hair care routines.
  1. Alleviate dry skin. Rub the oil directly onto dry, cracked skin. For a deep conditioning treatment for hands and feet, massage in the oil then wear socks or gloves overnight to let it work its magic.
  2. Strengthen nails and heal cuticles. Massage a small amount of hemp oil directly into nails and cuticles—great for both fingernails and toenails.
  3. Remove makeup. Oil follows the “like dissolves like” rule, which means that hemp oil will dissolve the oils and waxes in makeup, especially in stubborn eye makeup. Gently rub a small amount of oil into the makeup and wipe with a cotton ball or a soft tissue.
  4. Mask overnight. Massage hemp oil into cleansed facial skin before bedtime.
  5. Steam facial skin. Massage a tablespoon of oil into the skin on your dry, clean face, massaging for several minutes. Then lay a hot (not scalding) damp washcloth over your face and let it sit until it cools. Wipe with the washcloth. Repeat with another hot washcloth until all the oil is wiped off. Washing your face afterwards is optional.
  6. Condition hair. Before shampooing, massage a tablespoon or so of hemp oil into your scalp and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, shampoo as normal. You might find you don’t need conditioner.
  7. Reduce acne. This may sound crazy, but this oil actually reduces acne. Massage hemp oil into problem areas and work it in gently for several minutes. The oil will actually draw out sebum plugs that cause whiteheads, blackheads, and even cysts. Do this daily during breakouts.
  8. Relieve eczema. A 2005 study found that 2 tablespoons of dietary hemp seed oil consumed daily may help relieve the effects of atopic dermatitis, or eczema.
  9. Support overall health. Eat it. You can eat it straight and enjoy its nutty flavor or you can put it in salad dressings, as a butter replacement on toast, rice, potatoes, vegetables...it’s delicious! Keep in mind that pure hemp seed oil cannot be used for high-heat cooking. It has a low smoke point and will totally break down even at a moderate heat, at which point all nutritional benefits are lost.
Just remember, pure hemp seed oil goes rancid easily. It needs to be kept in the fridge. However, you can look for it as a shelf-stable ingredient in other personal care products.
Lisa Bronner PhotoLisa Bronner is the writer of the blog Going Green with a Bronner Mom, in connection with her family’s company, Dr. Bronner’s, makers of best-selling organic personal care products. Through her writing and public speaking, Lisa guides consumers through the quagmire of the organic marketplace and simplifies the process of green living at home. Embracing the concept of stewardship, she recognizes individuals’ ability to make a world of difference by how they live their every day. A stay-at-home mom to three, she believes that regularly gathering with them around the family dinner table is the single most important parenting act in her day.